HSCI-130: Intro Psych: Imagining Self

This introduction to psychology focuses on the structure and experience of the self. We may picture ourselves in contrast to others, such as when we experience ourselves as less extrovert than our friend. Or we find ourselves overweight relative to that model. This is how we imagine ourselves. We have many self images: a body image, an image of our personality, a professional self image, and so on. We spend much time worrying about how to imagine ourselves, and whether our self images are 'normal'. In this class will survey the psychological research on the self and the problems of the self. The course will cover topics such as memory and emotion, identity, overthinking, imposter syndrome and body image. A central topic in all of this is the notion that we imagine ourselves, for better or for worse. We will explore this through lectures and discussion, as well as weekly creative exercises where you will be asked to imagine alternative selves. This class will help you to express yourself and to reach your audience in a more nuanced way.